Antennas for mobile communication and satellite broadcasting require functions that can change the beam direction (referred to as “beam scanning” or “beam steering”). An antenna (hereinafter referred to as a “scanning antenna”) having such functionality, phased array antennas equipped with antenna units are a known example. However, existing phased array antennas are expensive, which is an obstacle for popularization as a consumer product. In particular, as the number of antenna units increases, the cost rises considerably.
Therefore, scanning antennas that utilize the high dielectric anisotropy (birefringence) of liquid crystal materials (including nematic liquid crystals and polymer dispersed liquid crystals) have been proposed (PTL 1 to PTL 5 and NPL 1). Since the dielectric constant of liquid crystal materials has a frequency dispersion, in the present specification, the dielectric constant (also referred to as the “dielectric constant for microwaves”) is particularly denoted as “dielectric constant M(εM)”.
PTL 3 and NPL 1 describe how an inexpensive scanning antenna can be obtained by using liquid crystal display (hereinafter referred to as “LCD”) device technology.